Dungeon Crawl (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress Book 8)

by Annie Bellet

  She went and got them and then unlocked the apartment door as I instructed and waited patiently, holding it open.

  “What are you going to do?” Vickie asked me.

  “Fly,” I said. “Quiet, I need to concentrate.”

  I closed my eyes and visualized exactly what I wanted to do. I’d never really done this before, but I’d used similar techniques in DnD games, so how tough could it be? I pushed down the rising fear that I’d fuck this up and drop my lover to his death two stories below.

  What I needed was a mix of a fly spell with Levitation, and a bit of Tenser’s Floating Disk. I visualized my magic like giant, stiff cargo netting wrapping around Alek’s body, letting the magic slide in a controlled fashion from my outstretched hands and wrap gently around him. Gentle magic isn’t my strong suit, but damned if I wasn’t going to learn a new trick today if I had to. I heard Vickie gasp and figured it must be working since I didn’t smell burning fur.

  With another deep breath that send a stabbing reminder through my side, I opened my eyes. Pale purple lines of power flowed from my hands like giant cables and wove around tiger-Alek, turning his white fur to violet in their magic light. Using myself as the anchor point, I gave my magic net a shove upward. Alek lifted about two feet off the ground, the lines holding him mostly rigid and stable. Carefully I walked backward. Vickie scrambled to move the Shoji screen out of our way as I floated Alek out from under the awning.

  I’d installed an extra wide front door at the top of the landing so that Alek could get in and out if he needed to in tiger form, since with our lives we never knew what would happen. I was pretty sure he would fit even laying down with his legs out, but if he didn’t, I had built the netting around him in a way that I was fairly sure I could rotate him if needed.

  Once out from under the awning, I pushed us both into the air. I prayed our luck would hold because right now there was a floating, glowing twelve-foot long tiger and a woman with giant purple cables around her body and in her hands driving him before her like a chariot. The YouTube video would have been crazy. I shoved aside my scattered thoughts and worries, keeping tight hold of my magic as I guided Alek slowly toward the door once I had us level with the top deck. I’d left off railings despite recommended building codes for reasons not exactly identical to this, but with a quick escape of a large tiger in mind if it had to happen. A lifetime of running from Samir had trained me to always build with easy escape routes in mind.

  Rachel flattened herself against the inside wall to make the opening as big as possible as I carefully guided Alek through. I let my feet come down onto the landing and walked in after him, my eyes fixed on Alek’s body. The magic in my hands felt thinner by the moment as fatigue and injury started to catch up to me and the edges of my vision dimmed. I couldn’t drop him yet. Not gonna happen. I gritted my teeth and clutched at the purple cords like they were real cables, strengthening them with sheer will.

  I heard Vickie coming up the iron steps behind me as I floated Alek into the living room and finally, slowly, lowered him down to the floor. I let go of the magic as he settled and rushed to his side. For a terrible moment I felt no movement, no breath. Then his fur beneath my panicking hands lifted and dropped. Vickie knelt and pressed her face against him, not even bothering with her stethoscope, just using her wolf-shifter hearing.

  “Still beating,” she said. She made an attempt at a smile. “I’ll get an IV into him, get him fluids to help replace the blood. I think he’ll make it, Jade. I really do.”

  I lay down, letting exhaustion, both physical and emotional, take over. Pressing my face into Alek’s shoulder, I curled against him. He would live, damn it all, because I couldn’t imagine him not living. He would live, and when he woke I was going to go find those two wolves and teach them why the world was terrified of sorcerers. Teach them why nobody messes with my family. Never ever again.

  I must have dozed off because I didn’t remember everyone arriving in my house. I swallowed the taste of sleep from my mouth as the sound of low voices carried to me. My head was still on Alek’s shoulder, though it had slipped down to mostly pillow on his foreleg. I shoved my hands into his fur and felt him breathing. His breathing was steadier. His breaths moved his chest like they should have, I thought, hoping it wasn’t just my imagination. I wiggled down and pressed my cheek to his side. His heart was beating strongly enough for me to hear it now. That wasn’t my imagination.

  “He’s doing better,” Vickie said.

  I sat up and saw her sitting crosslegged on the floor on Alek’s other side. She had a couple throw pillows behind her so she could lean on the chair that Harper was perched in.

  “How’re you?” Harper asked me as I raised my gaze to meet her worried green eyes.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “How long did I sleep?” I turned to look out the window and saw it was dark.

  “It’s nearly midnight,” she said. “We thought you should rest.”

  “That’s a long time,” I said, sitting up more. I felt my stomach where the bullet had hit me. There was only a divot on either side now, the flesh there white against my brown skin. The scar would be gone in a day or so, I knew. I took a couple deep breaths and flexed the sad excuse I had for abdominal muscles. No pain.

  Junebug came out of my bathroom, wiping her hands on her long, hand-stitched skirt.

  “I sent Levi and his brother for snacks,” she said, smiling at me. “Not a lot here that’s ready-made. Brie and Ciaran said to call if you need them, but they are planning on staying up and keeping an eye out. Lara is sleeping downstairs on one of the game room couches in case she’s needed. Sheriff Lee is going to be sending deputies on drive-by all night long and she’s looking for that SUV. I think that’s all you missed.”

  My throat got tight and my eyes felt a little watery as I smiled back at her. I had good friends. Then a thought occurred to me, something I’d thought about in passing before I’d crashed.

  “Anybody find any of the bullets? I know they are probably pancaked or fragmented.” I wasn’t sure it would be enough to run a tracking spell, but I was willing to try.

  “Lara and Brie hosed down the lot to get rid of the blood. Maybe ask them?” Harper said.

  I stroked my hands through Alek’s fur and sighed. “Hopefully she’ll still want to work here.” I reluctantly got to my feet, stretching sore muscles. I looked down at Alek.

  “Go shower and change,” Vickie said, reading my mind. “He’s still alive, Jade, and his vitals are stronger. He’s going to make it, I promise.”

  “I wish he’d wake up,” I muttered. I wasn’t going to believe he’d be okay until he shifted and told me so himself.

  “He needs rest now. It might be another day or more before he wakes, and longer before he can safely shift.” Vickie scritched Alek’s ears in a way nobody but me would have dared when he was awake. She was a vet, after all. I imagined she was dealing with him the way she dealt with all her patients. I hoped she was right about his health, but I’d never seen reason to doubt her before. Vickie didn’t talk shit or sugarcoat. It wasn’t her way.

  I showered, pulled on clean clothing, and went to see if my employee was still sane and to let her know she could go and sleep in a real bed if she wanted.

  Lara was curled up on one of the couches in the casual gaming room with a sleeping bag under her. It was too warm to really need it. She was awake, or I would have slipped out again, with the light on. She was reading from one of the fantasy novels I kept a small stock of near the counter.

  “Hey,” she said. “How’s Alek?”

  “He’s doing better. Hasn’t woken up yet but Vickie is optimistic.”

  “Should we start one of those workplace counters? It’s been zero days since someone tried to kill you?” She grinned at me, her shoulders tense as she sat up and crossed her legs. Lara was clearly trying to break the ice a little. I appreciated that.

  “I had a good streak going,” I said in my defense. “Nobody has tr
ied the whole time you worked here or for like months before that.”

  “I missed all the fun a year ago, but I’ve heard some stories. Coyotes have good eavesdropping skills.” She said coyotes with only two syllables.

  “Sorry about today,” I said, turning a chair around so I could sit facing her. “I totally understand if you want to find something else.”

  Lara shrugged. “My mom’s an emergency room doctor and my uncle is a professional hunter. I’m not freaked out by blood and stuff, if that’s what you mean.”

  “They coyotes too?”

  “Bears. I’m the odd one out. Prof Chapowits says that’s usually how it is with coyote shifters. We just manifest our animal half without regard to tradition or bloodline,” Lara said, still grinning. Then she sobered a little, her grin dropping to a small smile. “Look, Jade. I am serious. I heard what happened, and the Prof filled in some gaps. Why you had to rebuild the whole block and stuff. I know working here might not be the safest thing, but it’s cool. Being a shifter isn’t safe either. Nor is being black, when you get down to it. I don’t mind risk.”

  “You can’t change who you are,” I said. “But this is a risk you could avoid. I didn’t think there would be more trouble, but I see now that was probably short-sighted of me. Trouble and I are forever intertwined.”

  “Or you live in a place with lots of ley lines, a huge number of shifters, and probably things I don’t even know about. Would you say Buffy attracted trouble? Or was it just that she lived on a Hellmouth?”

  She was using Buffy as an example in a logical argument. I shook my head. I didn’t want anyone hurt, but it was hard to keep trying to convince her to go when she clearly belonged. Lara was one of our tribe, as Harper would say.

  “I give up,” I said. “But seriously, if things get too weird or dangerous, quit any time. I won’t blame you.”

  “Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.” Lara dropped her hands onto her crossed ankles. “I’m still working all day, yeah? You gonna do that thing?”

  It took me a minute to remember what she was talking about. Noah’s house. Shit.

  “No,” I said, my brain scrambling over how I was going to explain that to the vampire. He’d have to wait. I wasn’t leaving Alek to go rob some house. Not until I had taken those would-be killers out of the picture. Which reminded me why I came down here in the first place. “Did you find any bullet fragments or casings or anything when you were cleaning up outside? Do you know if Brie did?”

  “We hosed the lot down pretty good,” Lara said with a head shake. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. It was a long shot anyway,” I said. I got to my feet. “You don’t have to stay if you want to sleep in a real bed.”

  “Nah, I’m good,” she said. “I’ll crash and open the store in the morning unless you tell me otherwise.”

  “I’ll let you know if anything changes,” I said. “Thank you.”

  I went down the back steps and out and around to my place, wondering why I hadn’t put a damn door from my place into the store. Separation of work and home life, I supposed.

  Ezee and Levi were back, sitting with Harper and Junebug at my dining room table with a pile of snacks in front of them. The only thing open this late in Wylde were bars and our Quickmart. From the fun-size bags of chips, packages of Hostess cake products, and six-pack of ice tea, they’d opted for the latter.

  My cell phone sat in front of Ezee. I didn’t remember leaving it there.

  “You got a call. I figured it was late so maybe it was important. Blocked number,” Ezee said. All four of them were looking at me with quizzical faces.

  I walked past them and looked at Alek. I’d deal with people answering my phone without permission in a minute. I had no idea who would call anyway.

  “He’s fine,” Vickie said. She had a bag of Fritos in her hands and had moved up to the chair Harper had vacated.

  I nodded and went back to the table, pulling out a chair. I grabbed a bag of kettle chips and looked at Ezee. “So?”

  “It was the Archivist,” he said, that weird tone still in his voice. “He said to wish you and Alek good luck at the house today.”

  I was sure the expectant silence that followed was the subsonic noise the proverbial cat made as it shot out of the proverbial bag and right into orbit.

  “Give me my phone,” I said, abandoning the chips even though I was starving. Noah might have called from a blocked number, but I had another number for him. It was worth a try anyway.

  “Jade?” Levi said as Ezee slid me the cell.

  “I’ll explain in a second,” I said. I raised my hand for silence as I found the number in my saved contacts under “Lestat” and hit send.

  He picked up on the second ring. “Jade.”

  “It’s off,” I said. “Your house is going to have to wait. Someone shot me today and Alek is still hurt.” No point wasting time making nice before I broke the news to him, I figured.

  There was a long silence that made me wonder if the line had gone dead. Then Noah spoke in a chilled, clipped tone. “It must happen this weekend. There can be no delay.”

  “It’s not going to happen,” I said. “Whoever shot us is still out there and until Alek is awake and those bastards are dead, my focus is here, not looking for magical objects in some house.”

  I saw Harper mouth “looking for magical objects” at Levi with a questioning tilt of her head and Levi giving her the wide-eyed, frowning faced “I dunno” look back. Yep. Cat was firmly traveling beyond orbit and into the Kupier belt any minute now.

  “You owe me, Jade Crow,” the pissed off vampire on the phone was saying.

  “So I’ll still owe you. I’m hanging up now,” I said. Great. Another enemy.

  “Wait,” Noah said, a note of panic in his voice that shocked me into putting the phone back to my ear. “Do you know who shot at you?”

  “No,” I said. “We’re looking for them.”

  “I am good at finding things. At getting information. Give me all the information you have and I will find them for you. If you do the job today, as promised.”

  “What about if I do it tomorrow?” Sunday would be better, give Alek another day to recover and maybe wake up.

  “Today. As promised.” Noah’s tone was harder than diamonds.

  I held the phone away from my face, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I looked over at the hulking form of tiger-Alek sleeping. There was what I wanted in life, I was learning, and then there was reality. I wanted to tell the vampire to stick it where the sun don’t shine, then pull some crazy awesome magic stuff and find those bastards myself, and end them shifter Justice style, hopefully with my badass, powerful and fully operational shifter Justice mate at my side.

  Reality was that we had thin leads, Alek was hurt and down for who knew how long, and I really couldn’t afford to make another enemy right now, especially not one as powerful as the Archivist. Reality was also that there was no way I was going to talk my friends out of helping.

  Vickie was convinced that Alek would live. That had to be good enough for me.

  “Fine,” I said into the phone. “I’ll get the Sheriff to share her info with you. We’ll do the thing. But you’d better deliver, Noah.”

  “Consider it done,” he said. Then he hung up on me, denying me even that small satisfaction. Damn vampires.

  I set my phone down and opened the bag of kettle chips, staring into the greasy interior. Then I looked up at my silent, but anxious friends. They all looked ready to expire from curiosity and barely hanging onto their tongues.

  “So,” I said, trying for casual. “Who wants to go on a quest?”

  Everyone crashed at my place that night. Vickie slept on the couch. Harper and Ezee slept in my bed while Junebug and Levi took the guest room. I got a little sleep, most of it dozing off in the chair by Alek’s head.

  Rachel was surprised when I called her and told her to give everything she had to someone who would be calling. I let Noah know the
Sheriff was ready to hand over info and made him swear that he’d call as soon as he knew anything.

  Junebug and Vickie were going to stay with Alek, promising to call if he woke up or anything changed. I felt bad about Vickie canceling her appointments, but she assured me that nothing was scheduled that couldn’t wait. Rachel still had deputies going by regularly and would keep that up. I don’t know what she was telling them, but figured she was used to handling that stuff so I’d let her. It was nice to not have to worry over every detail of every problem. I guess that’s what friends are for, right?

  Lara was going to run the shop as normal. All the things were ready for us to go.

  Harper, Levi, and Ezee, of course, were coming with me. I’d known the moment I told them about what the Archivist wanted that they would. I’d even managed to convince Levi not to go to his shop and get weapons.

  “We’re looking at an empty house. No guns,” I said again around the last mouthful of waffle as we prepared to leave. It was just after dawn, but given how fitfully we’d all slept, we were ready for an early start. It was a long drive ahead.

  “This house isn’t even on Google Earth,” Harper said. “Weird.” She was staring at her phone.

  “Weird shouldn’t surprise anyone,” I said. I knelt down by Alek and rubbed his chin. His breathing was strong and steady now, but he hadn’t woken up yet.

  “He’s doing fine,” Vickie said with a yawn as she sat up on the couch.

  “Call me if he wakes.” I stroked Alek’s nose, something he normally hated, in the vain hope it would annoy him and wake him. He slept on.

  I got up and went to do my morning ritual with the Alpha and Omega and Samir’s heartstone. As I walked out of the bedroom with the dagger strapped to my waist, Levi threw up his hands.

  “You’ve got a weapon,” he pointed out.

  “It tends to follow me around if I leave it places,” I said. That was true, but I was also bringing it just in case.

  “I’m taking a machete,” he muttered.